WEBVTT

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A Drug-Free World

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A Drug Free World: Reloaded

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The protests outside were great,

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because it focused attention on the real people.

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I don't think a lot of the delegates inside have thought about the people that are involved

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in the words that they're throwing around.

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And to see people with an alternative point of view,

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and to see messages that weren't the messages

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that they were hearing on the inside,

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is really positive and powerful.

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One of the most disappointing things at this event,

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or this conference, this meeting,

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is hearing the stupidity and the ignorance of some of these people

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that are speaking for the civilians in their countries.

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They don't know what they're talking about.

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The event that brings us here today,

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as well as next week,

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is of double historical significance

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to all of those involved in the fight against illicit drugs.

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In particular,

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the group is deeply concerned about the continuance

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and increase in the consumption of illicit drugs

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and the deviation for illicit uses of psychotropic substances

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In this historical gathering,

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let us all remember that if we do not respond,

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jointly and consistently to the drug problem,

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the drug problem will end up knocking at everybody's door.

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Thank you madame chair.

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Thank you madame for your statement,

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the next speaker on my list is...

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The diplomats are out of touch.

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They have no contact with people who use drugs,

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with people in recovery and their families.

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They are more interested in putting forth their country statement,

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which often has no bearing on reality.

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Where people are ill and need support.

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We are searching for government delegates

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to ask them what do they think about the meeting.

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Can I have a few questions with you?

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-- No, no, no, no

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Can I have a question, a few questions for you?

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-- Ah, no. I have no time, excuse me.

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-- I'm not sure that I have time.

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--Thank you, but the only one is Ambassador <u><u></u>_</u> who is allowed to give any kind of digression.

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Thank you.

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Sir, excuse me, may I have a few questions to you?

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How do you consider the past ten years of the global drug control system?

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-- Ah well, I should say that it has some very good plus points.

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It may not be 100% human but at least 60% is human

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We are on a good track?

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--Definitely yes.

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We are on a good track. Well thank you very much

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--Thank you.
Have a nice conference.

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--The fact that harm reduction is missing from this conference is very frustrating,

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because it is the main progress made these past three years.

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Do people know about this conference in Cyprus?

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--No, not especially

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Media writes about it?

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--We read about it, I'm from the anti-drugs council,

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but the general public doesn't know about it.

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Thank you.
--Thank you.

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I think over time the change in the administration in the U.S.

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and the change in the direction is going to make a big difference for UN policies.

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I think, unfortunately, that the timing of this meeting was wrong.

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If it had been in a year, even six or eight months,

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it would have had a different result than what we have now.

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The U.S. delegation has been friendly to U.S. NGO's.

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This is quite a change from the past eight years.

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1998 UNGASS adopted a political declaration with the aim of eliminating or significantly reducing the demand and supply of illicit drugs within 10 years

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After 10 years, it is obvious that the UN has failed to achieve this goal.

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When the review of the UNGASS process, the 1998 UNGASS process,

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began to be discussed back in 2006, 2005-2006,

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the EU decided that it wanted a proper evaluation

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before we would accept a new declaration in 2008-2009.

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Insofar as the evidence and the data suggests,

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things have changed but things haven't really improved very much since 1998.

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Is there any evidence that policy can make a difference?

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And here we concluded that

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there is very little that suggests that tougher enforcement can reduce drug use.

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And the way that’s supposed to happen is primarily that

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you make drugs more expensive and less available,

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and there's simply no evidence, indeed quite to the contrary,

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drug prices in the West have generally been declining and declining quite sharply.

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Prevention is a fine idea,

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and someday no doubt we will work out how to do it,

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but that’s some time off.

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It's clear that many programs that are being implemented in schools

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are fundamentally flawed and they're badly implemented.

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So prevention doesn't seem to play a major role in drugs at the moment.

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The one program area where there is evidence that it makes a difference is treatment.

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But it's important to notice what treatment does.

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Treatment can reduce the amount the drug users use,

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it doesn't cut down on the number of drug users.

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The only way to seriously affect the supply and demand for drugs

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is to raise the conditions that people are living in.

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To remove poverty, to empower people in society,

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to give people a purpose in their lives.

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Those are all things that will help people find a different relationship with drug taking.

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We also have to ask:

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is it really an objective to stop human beings taking mind altering substances?

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Just down the corridor, we have a special room set aside for delegates

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that allows them to smoke cigarettes,

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in a room that protects the rest of the conference from the harms associated with smoking.

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So already this conference is recognizing the need for harm reduction in its own behavior.

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What we need to work towards

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is helping them understand that we should all be applying those policies all around the world.

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So yeah, we need to move forward.

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1998, Did they learn the lesson?

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No. Not at all

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The 2009 UNGASS adopted a political declaration with the aim of eliminating or significantly reducing the demand and supply of illicit drugs within 10 years.

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The goals, the targets, the aspirations from the old political declaration have been repeated.

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There have been months of negotiation saying:

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we need to be more honest, we haven't met these targets, and in fact,

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we've ignored the fact that drug use and drug harm is increasing in developing countries.

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So you can't talk about containment,

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you can't say we've been successful,

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and so to repeat, those targets and those aspirations.

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Is foolish.

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Any government and any authority likes to claim success for its policies,

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and it is difficult, I know from my experience,

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to openly acknowledge failure,

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you're political enemies make capital out of it.

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But this was such clear situation that

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that the ten year objectives had not been met.

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Any statesmen like organization would be expected to acknowledge this clearly

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and review the range of strategies available to respond.

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What the CND did primarily was pretend there was some success,

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and there was none to report,

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and try to say that if we carry on doing the same things

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then further success is around the corner.

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This is not responsible policy making in my view.

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The formal declaration is like the emperor’s new clothes,

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It’s an illusion.

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We say "within ten years we will eradicate drug taking,

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we are really on the way to sorting out the drug problems."

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In reality the drug problems get worse,

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they effect more people, they do more harm.

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Maybe the vision should be more along the lines of peace.

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We've couched what we've done for drugs in terms as a war,

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a war against criminals,

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a war against plants, a war against people,

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a war against people who use drugs.

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Maybe we should think in terms of the peace vision.

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Transcribing: Anna Fischer, Subtitles: Hunter Holliman